Wallowa Mountains

The range rises to about 2,999 metres at Sacajawea Peak with granite and limestone peaks and around fifty alpine lakes in the Eagle Cap Wilderness, and the comparison to the Alps is made often enough that the area is marketed on it. Wallowa Lake below sits behind some of the largest and best-preserved terminal moraines in North America, ridges of glacial debris standing clearly above the valley floor. This is the homeland of the Wallowa band of the Nez Perce; after gold was found and the reservation reduced, they were ordered out in 1877, and Chief Joseph's flight of about 1,900 kilometres toward Canada ended forty miles short. Old Chief Joseph's grave is at the lake's north end. A tramway climbs Mount Howard.

The landscape

• Granite peaks to about 2,999 metres - with fifty alpine lakes.
• Terminal moraines at the lake - among the best preserved anywhere.
• The Nez Perce homeland - and the 1877 removal.
• Old Chief Joseph's grave - at the north end of the lake.

When to go

July to September; snow blocks high passes into July. Several days.

Practical notes

It is a long drive from anywhere - this is the far corner of Oregon. High country is snowbound most of the year. Mosquitoes in early summer are heavy. Services in Joseph are limited.

Nearby

Hells Canyon is east; the Snake River is beyond it.

Key facts